Column: Rosenfels breaks down why Brady is the greatest QB of all time
Sage Rosenfels is a former 12-year NFL quarterback who writes, does radio, and podcasts about the NFL and college football.
Tom Brady returned to the Bay Area this week to take on the team he loved as a kid, the San Francisco 49ers.
Brady grew up witnessing the greatness of Joe Montana and Steve Young as they brought home a plethora of Super Bowl trophies during the '80s and '90s.
This may have been Tom’s last chance to play in his hometown. The friends, family, and fans from the Bay Area had a chance to witness firsthand why he is the greatest NFL quarterback of all time.
At 39 years old, Brady is playing better than ever.
Critics have been wondering for years when his game would start to fade, yet it seems to be improving. In the era of the mobile quarterback, he is anything but a threat to run. This is something age hasn’t taken from Brady as he never was much of a runner. His ability to make small movements in the pocket is a thing of beauty and his accuracy is razor sharp.
Brady has always been smart, but his mastery of the offense allows him to manipulate defenses better than ever. We are seeing magic from the Patriot quarterback and I hope NFL fans, even those who loathe Brady, are appreciating his hallmark performances.
How is Brady playing so well at this age?
For one, his arm strength is still nearly as strong as it was when he was a rookie. If you look back at video from his college and early NFL years, you can see that Brady has made small changes to his motion. As someone who teaches young kids how to throw, I try to get my quarterbacks to use some of the same fundamentals Brady incorporates with his throwing motion.
The term “arm strength” insinuates how hard/far you throw a ball.
In actuality, the strength of the arm isn’t that important. Whenever I try to describe to young throwers how to create more “arm strength”, the challenge is getting them to understand that the arm is just the last component during a chain reaction of events.
Brady creates an incredible amount of arm speed by the way he torques his hips, core, and upper body. The strength and timing of these three moving parts working together creates an impressive amount of force on his shoulder. Connected to the shoulder is his arm, or whip, as I refer to it. The whip subsequently takes on the energy of Brady’s torque. When you combine these ingredients together in perfect unison, which Brady does, you get an arm which seems to get better with age.
It’s just anatomical science.
Brady is having another MVP-type season because of the weapons around him. Though his receiving corps has only one true superstar - the Gronk - the Patriots have built a roster which has a variety of talent at every offensive skill position. No, they don’t have a Julio Jones, Dez Bryant, or Antonio Brown.
But, what they do have, are players who run crisp routes versus zone, and can create separation in man-to-man coverage.
Opposite Gronkowski, Martellus Bennet has been a perfect acquisition for the Patriots.
As defenses try to stop Gronk, Bennet gets to matchup with linebackers or the more inferior safety. A few years ago, the Patriots had two young superstar tight ends with Gronk and Aaron Hernandez. Now they have two veterans who are still athletic and football smart.
At the receiver position, the Patriots have assembled dependable players which won’t wow you, but get the job done.
Julian Edelman, who played quarterback at Kent State, is the star of the group.
He is everything Bill Belichick loves in a football player. He understands the game. He wins one-on-one matchups. He can turn into a running back with the ball in his hands. Edelman is also tough. He’s a stronger Wes Welker with more run after the catch ability. Chris Hogan, Danny Amendola, and Malcom Mitchell are the other receivers making an impact. These three players all are solid in intermediate routes with Hogan and Mitchell offering big playmaking potential as well.
What makes Brady and this offense nearly unstoppable is its no-name running backs. Although Belichick refuses to pay big-money for backs, this position continues to impress. LaGarrette Blount leads the crew, but is strictly a rushing back as he isn’t much of a threat out of the backfield. The other backs, James White and Dion Lewis, are perfect alternatives to Blount. Both can regularly beat linebackers in one-on-one coverage and are excellent pass protectors.
The Patriots found the right backs to compliment their quarterback’s skill set. One back is responsible for carrying the load in the running game, while the other two are matchup problems in the passing game.
The final piece to Brady’s inimitable success is his mind.
Since being drafted by the Patriots in 2000, Brady has been in one offense.
Even though he’s had a few different offensive coordinators, the language and philosophy have stayed the same. Quarterbacks who play for over a decade rarely get to stay in one offense their whole career. Peyton Manning and Drew Brees both made the transition to new teams and foreign systems. Brady has an advantage over all other NFL quarterbacks in that he has never had to spend time learning a new offense.
I don’t think Brady knows the back of his hand as well as he knows this offense.
The New England Patriots are all about the one-on-one matchup. The organization has done a superb job of finding skilled players to win those matchups, and they have the greatest quarterback in the history of football to exploit these advantages.
Despite missing the first four games of the season, Tom Brady will be the 2016 MVP, cementing himself as the greatest quarterback to ever grace the gridiron.
He carries the torch for the traditional pocket passer which is becoming increasingly rare in today’s NFL. He will carry that torch all the way to his seventh Super Bowl appearance, and, eventually, Canton.